PGC HOMEWORK ON CHARTER

The Charter of the United Nations specifically calls on the Organization to help in the
settlement of international disputes by peaceful means, including arbitration and judicial
settlement Among the greatest achievements of the United Nations is the development of a
body of international law—conventions, treaties and standards—central to promoting
economic and social development, as well as to advancing international peace and security
Many of the treaties brought about by the United Nations form the basis of the law that
governs relations among nations
• The UN charter opposes killing civilians and toppling governments.
• Article 51 of the UN charter allows for a response to an attack by a state, but does not
say that we can bomb others in response to the acts of individuals.
• The UN charter forbids bombing where you cannot tell soldiers from civilians.
Art 51
.the inherent right of individual or collective self-defense if an armed attack occurs against a
Member of the United Nations, until the Security Council has taken measures necessary to
maintain international peace and security."

There are, however, authoritative views in international law about what constitutes legitimate
self-defense. One of these arises from the Caroline case (1837). In response to a border raid
attack…. Secretary of State Daniel Webster made the now classic formulation that there must
be 'a necessity of self-defence, instant, overwhelming, leaving no choice of means, and no
moment for deliberation' and that responsive measures must be neither 'unreasonable' nor
'excessive'"

While self-defense is a legally recognized justification for committing an act that would
ordinarily be considered as a crime such as killing or injuring a person, you should know that the
law requires the presence of specific circumstances before it can be availed of as a proper legal
defense. The Revised Penal Code of the Philippines (RPC) provides that:
 “Art. 11. Justifying
circumstances. – The following do not incur any criminal liability:
1. Anyone who acts in defense of his person or rights, provided the following circumstances
concur:
 First. Unlawful aggression;
Second. Reasonable necessity of the means employed to prevent or repel it;
 Third. Lack of
sufficient provocation on the part of the person defending himself.”
To summarize, to be able to successfully invoke self-defense, your wife must have been the
subject of a real and imminent threat, which represents the unlawful aggression made upon
her. There must also be reasonableness in her use of a knife or any other weapon as her means
to defend herself. And finally, there should be no provocation on her part that caused her
aggressor to harm her.

Explaining Chinese actions in the Woody Island in the Paracels, on 17 February 2016, Chinese
Foreign Minister Wang Yi announced that the deployment of surface-to-air missile launchers as
well as a radar system is a limited but necessary national defense facility for the exercise of its
rights to self-defense under international law.
The notion of self-defense arguably is highly subjective. Legal scholars contend that there is no
precise guideline on the inherent right to self-defense in case of an armed attack under Article
51 of the UN Charter.
Anticipatory self-defense as recognized in customary international law is the use of force even
before an actual attack.

A state arming itself could be in preparation for self-defense either in anticipation of or

following an armed attack.

In the current situation……